I nominate Jason Isaacs aka Lucius Malfoy aka Clark Devlin.
If not Bond, he’d make a cool villain.
I’ve since heard rumors about Goran Visnic (sp?), an actor from E.R. who I’m not familiar with. I’ve heard all the rumors about Clive Owen, Ewan McGregor, Daniel Craig, and Hugh Jackman, and I could see any of the four of them bringing different things to the role – or Alexis Denisof as well.
To be completely honest, I’m not the hugest Bond fan in the world. For action heroes, I’d much rather watch Jack Bauer, John McClane, Chow-Yun Fat, Batman, Spider-Man, or Indiana Jones. The Bond formula is just dated, and never had a place or a need to exist after the Cold War ended. But if they could make an entertaining action movie with a charismatic lead actor, a good villain, and at least one hot chick, I’d probably see it anyway.
Frillionth vote for Clive Owen. The man’s got charisma, ruggedness, dangerousness, the right accent, and the right kind of Hollywood buzz. He’d do a great job.
James Bond, “fightin’ 'round thuh wuld!”
I don’t know if I could handle that. 
Jason Isaacs might make a good choice. He’s got terrific screen presence and all in all would be a Bond in the Timothy Dalton mold, if not as tall. There’s a couple of minor strikes against him, though – his age (at 42, he’s the same age now that Bronson was when he got the role) and what I suspect is a tendency for him to put on a little weight (but then, so did Connery and Brosnan at times). And would Isaacs be comfortable enough with action sequences?
I’d like to toss in a new name: Thomas Jane (The Punisher, Stander, Boogie Nights). Pros: he’s a good and versatile actor, 36 years old, 5’11.5", looks great in action sequences and love scenes, and got into fantastic physical shape for The Punisher. Cons: he’s American and not particularly well known. Mitigating factors: fans of action flicks know who he is, and he’s good with accents. For Stander, he learned to do Afrikaans and Bantu [?] accents, so he could probably be convincing as a Brit.
For me Bond is Connery or Moore, for no other reason than that’s who was playing him in all the movies I liked as a kid, and I didn’t question what I was being fed. This impression has more-or-less been fixed in my subconscious mind, to the point I just cannot buy anybody else in the role.
IMO, the Bond franchise needs to take a loooong breather. Russurect the character in a generation, when the faces of old Bonds has had time to fade a bit.
I always thought this guy would be a great Bond.
I’ve submitted a correction to IMDB regarding the false claim that the broccoli plant was named for Albert “Cubby” Broccoli’s ancestors. However, the automatic response says it generally takes a couple weeks for corrections to be approved.
He’s also closest to Ian Fleming’s character in terms of heritage.
Alan Rickman seems to match up with Fleming’s concept in terms of appearance. Too bad he’s busy.
How about Rowan Atkinson? OWOWOWOW!!! Stop! I was just kidding. Seriously though I thought Johnny English was a hoot and the ass kicking chase scene with the Aston Martin and tow truck was worthy of the best Bond movies.
I’m leaning toward Ewan McGregor after seeing his '60s suave guy in the otherwise sucky Down With Love.
That’s what finally sold him for me too. McGregor is always charming and a very versatile actor, but he was way more of a badass as the Cary Grant-esque Catcher Block in Down With Love than in all three *Star Wars * movies put together.
Goran Visnjic Only problem would be overcoming his thick Croatian accent.
Really don’t like the thought of Ewan MacGregor. He’s a little too pasty. Ewan, even after the Obi-wan stint, doesn’t give off a vibe of being able to kick anyone’s ass. Thats probably why he worked as Obi-Wan, since he was recreating Alec Guiness’ take.
Bond to me is just loaded with testosterone. Thats why Jude Law and Ewan MacGregor don’t fit for me.
A guy I think would really nail the role it George Clooney. Not sure how much losing the English accent would hurt the character, but if he recreated his Danny Ocean character with a little more physicality he’d be great. Maybe if the movie were written so that he had to blend into an American environment as part of his cover and adopting an American accent was a necessity.
Anyways, I thought Orlando Bloom was already a done deal.
Reading this article
http://www.empireonline.co.uk/site/news/newsstory.asp?news_id=16659
and this one
http://www.malefirst.co.uk/3472004.htm
It sounds like it’s a sure thing. However, he’ll be playing a young Bond in a prequel of sorts. And it also appears that there may be two concurrent Bonds. One playing the older Bond we’re used to and Bloom as the young one. It doesn’t seem to be clear in Casino Royale is intended to be that “young” Bond film or not. Perhaps that film is further off.
Clive Owen might be OK, if a little unispired. I like Owen, be he’s better as the silent brooding type, not the more silver tongued Bond.
And Hugh Grant…um, seriously?
Actually, Fleming never mentioned anything about Bond’s ancestry until *after * Connery was cast. The first mention of Bond’s Scottishness was in the novel OHMSS, which was written after Dr. No was filmed.
Clive Owen? Something bugs me about him–his head looks too big for his body.
Connery was the best Bond, followed by Dalton, Brosnan, Lazenby, David Niven, Connery’s stunt double, and Roger Moore, in that order.
Really? I think my parents still have my books so I was just going by what Wikipedia says.
Rowan Atkinson’s already been in a Bond movie – he was “Small-Fawcett” in Never Say Never Again.
People do show up in multiple Bond films, but no secondary character has ever risen to become Bond.
On that note, I would like to nominate Benedicio del Toro as a Latin Bond.
He was originally the right-hand-man of Robert Davi in the Dalton flick “The Living Daylights”.
Muy suave.
“Bond…Jaime Bond”.
Alexander Siddig El Fadil as Yakub al Bond
Where is it we’re going to need undercover agents anyway?
This is kinda freaky. My sister and I were just discussing Brosnan and Bond a few days ago, and she wants Adrian Paul to be the next Bond.